Watch the amazing story of Nikola Tesla (John C. Reilly); the father of Western... more »

Watch the amazing story of Nikola Tesla (John C. Reilly); the father of Western Technology, who sailed to America to meet Thomas Edison (Crispin Glover) and work for him. Late one night Duncan Trussell had a six pack of beer and a bottle of absinthe and sat down to tell us about this historical event.
Derek Waters presents: Drunk History vol. 6 « less

May 05, 2010

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(music plays)
Duncan Trussell: Today we're going to talk
about Nikola Tesla.
Duncan Trussell: Nikola Tesla was the father
of Western technology.
Duncan Trussell: For everything we know as
like modern electricity,
Duncan Trussell: Tesla invented that.
Duncan Trussell: He also invented invented
wireless technology.
Duncan Trussell: He also invented
the radio.
Duncan Trussell: Supposedly, one day, he was
taking a walk in the park...
Duncan Trussell: ...and he suddenly experienced
this tremendous flash of light...
Duncan Trussell: ...and he saw in his mind the
perfect blueprint of an
Duncan Trussell: engine that would create
something called alternating current.
Duncan Trussell: And that's when he was like, I have to go to the United
Duncan Trussell: States and meet Edison. I'll meet Edison.
Duncan Trussell: So Tesla sailed across the
ocean and
Duncan Trussell: found Edison who at the
time was like the king of electricity...
Duncan Trussell: Edison was like, alright, I
guess you can work for me.
Duncan Trussell: His job was like digging
ditches for Edison.
Duncan Trussell: And this guy Westinghouse
gave him money to start
Duncan Trussell: working on his idea of
alternating current.
Duncan Trussell: So Edison didn't like the
idea of alternating current
Duncan Trussell: because he owned all the
patents on direct current.
Duncan Trussell: Alternating current was the...
Duncan Trussell: I'm too drunk.
Duncan Trussell: I can't do it.
Voice (offscreen): Yes, you can.
(sound of something crashing and Duncan laughing)
Duncan Trussell: I'm gonna start puking.
Duncan Trussell: Westinghouse and Tesla won
the contract to supply all
Duncan Trussell: the electricity to the World
Fair and this pissed Edison off.
Duncan Trussell: He was like, fuck this.
Alternating current is bad.
Duncan Trussell: Alternating current will only
cause massive deaths.
Duncan Trussell: So he started this campaign
to prove that alternating
Duncan Trussell: current was like the
worst current you could use.
Duncan Trussell: What he did, is he began to
like publicly electrocute animals.
Duncan Trussell: Edison was an asshole.
He was like taking sheep and being
Duncan Trussell: like, look what happens when
the sheep touches alternating current.
Duncan Trussell: Oh, it gets electrocuted.
Look what happens when a
Duncan Trussell: cow comes in contact with
alternating current. It dies.
Duncan Trussell: Tesla was horrified.
Duncan Trussell: He was like, this is awful.
I am inventing electricity and
Duncan Trussell: you look like an asshole.
You look like a fucking idiot.
Duncan Trussell: I'm gonna throw up.
I can't do it. Goodnight.
Duncan Trussell: Thank you everyone.
Duncan Trussell: Tesla discovered the energy
to run the World's Fair...
Duncan Trussell: ...and at that moment, Tesla
became an international
Duncan Trussell: figure, worshiped by
everyone.
Duncan Trussell: So Tesla had like a
laboratory and Mark
Duncan Trussell: Twain and everybody who was
famous in the world would
Duncan Trussell: come to the laboratory.
Duncan Trussell: So he would do things like
make electricity
Duncan Trussell: shoot around his body.
People would be watching him.
Duncan Trussell: Look at him he's on fire.
Mark Twain would be there crying.
Duncan Trussell: The new idea was that, I
don't think you necessarily
Duncan Trussell: need to have like power
plants for there to be
Duncan Trussell: electricity. I think that you
can take electricity from the air.
Duncan Trussell: This was directly opposed to
all of capitalist society.
Duncan Trussell: So he was basically
ostracized from society.
(Duncan is coughing and gagging)
(Duncan is vomiting)
Duncan Trussell: How did this come out of my
body. There's pieces.
Duncan Trussell: There's pineapple pieces.
Okay, I know I chewed it.
Duncan Trussell: He went crazy, you know.
But his greatest pleasure as he
Duncan Trussell: was getting older was
feeding pigeons.
Duncan Trussell: And he fell in love with a
specific pigeon.
Duncan Trussell: What an asshole.
Duncan Trussell: As he was dying, I guess he
was in this hotel room, and a
Duncan Trussell: pigeon appeared, and from its
eyes, this light glowed that
Duncan Trussell: was brighter than any light
that he had ever seen and he
Duncan Trussell: knew that he would never
invent anything worthy of a pigeon.
Duncan Trussell: He was 84.
Duncan Trussell: And he died in a hotel,
completely broke and alone.
Duncan Trussell: In love with
a pigeon.
Duncan Trussell: This is a nightmare.
Duncan Trussell: I'm in hell.
This is hell.
Duncan Trussell: I'm talking about Tesla
in my puke.
(music plays)
Duncan Trussell: Tesla was the electric Jesus.
I can't breathe.
(music continues)